It’s that time of the year again, when seniors and 8th graders walk across the stage and collect their diplomas. Whether graduation is over or yet to happen, parents will want to take plenty of pictures! Here are five mobile apps best suited for perfecting photos and documenting your student’s achievement in education.

With DMD Panorama, as you turn to take shots that are to be part of a panorama photo, two symbols appear on the viewfinder image. As you move the camera to take each photo in the series of shots, simply line up the graphic images on the display and the correct angle and placement of the new photo to be included in the panorama is made and the photo taken. Taking panoramic photos is quick and easy with this app! It is important to note that photos are all taken vertically, then automatically “stitched” or merged to create the panorama.

In addition to a full suite of editing and effects tools, Cymera’s standout feature is the ability to utilize different lenses and shooting modes within the app. Instead of the standard lens, you can try action shots, a sprocket lens and even a fish eye lens. You can also apply filters to adjust the color, mood and feeling of an image. Once you’ve selected a photo, you can then edit within the application.

This app includes basic photo editing tools as well as many fun and fanciful effects, collages and other creative features. Photogene’s tools expose you to basic editing vocabulary and techniques. Once you take an original photo, you can quickly deepen and enhance the meaning of the images. The app offers great opportunities for observation and improves digital literacy.

HDR, or High Dynamic Range, is a photography technique that entails taking several different photographs in rapid succession. Using various degrees of exposure, you can layer them together creating a single, true-camera image. With Pro HDR Camera, you can snap your own HDR photos with the tap of a finger. Simply launch the app and frame the image you want to capture. Then, the app takes three successive photographs of the image and layers them together into one composite.

The short-form app version of Photoshop gives you a number of handy tools. Like many photo editing apps, you can crop, straighten and rotate photos. The flip, hue, temperature, brightness/contrast adjustments and red eye feature make this app more unique. The ability to change your picture to black and white, colorize, or turn it into a sketch put this app above most. Add a variety of borders to your picture to finalize it for publishing to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or email.

About Stephen Danos

Stephen Danos is the Associate Editor for appoLearning.com and Appolicious. He has contributed to articles published on TechCrunch, The Chicago Sun Times, The Chicago Tribune, and elsewhere. He received his BA in English from the University of Iowa and MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia College Chicago. He is the author of two poetry chapbooks, Playhouse State (H_NGM_N Books, 2012) and Gravitational (The New Megaphone, forthcoming).